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Lucy Maude Montgormery Portrait

A MOMENT WITH LUCY MAUD MONTGOMERY
Portrait by Arnold Hodgkins

 

Note: summary below was authored by the Lucy Maude Montgomery Historical Society:

 

This portrait depicts Lucy Maud Montgomery during her residence at Leaskdale, Ontario, (1911-1926), where she wrote eleven books.  The background of the painting represents significant moments from Maud’s life and career.  The painting was unveiled at the Uxbridge Music Hall on July 14, 1974, by Dr. Stuart Macdonald, youngest son of Lucy Maud Montgomery Macdonald.  The portrait was commissioned by the Uxbridge-Scott Historical Society to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birthday of Lucy Maud Montgomery, who was born November 30, 1874.

The right side of the painting illustrates the north sea coast of Prince Edward Island and the Macneill farmhouse at Cavendish, where Maud was raised by her grandparents.  Most of Maud’s early life, 1874-1911, was passed in this setting.

The top left side of the painting illustrates the Marco Polo, a sailing ship whose grounding during a storm at Cavendish, witnessed by Maud as a child, formed the basis of her early narrative “The Wreck of the Marco Polo, published 1891.
 

The middle left side of the painting illustrates the fictional character “Anne”, created by Maud in her first novel, Anne of Green Gables, published in 1908.  The episode of the dyed hair is represented from chapter 27, “Vanity and Vexation of Spirit”.

The lower left side of the painting illustrates the church and countryside at Leaskdale, Ontario where Maud lived with her minister husband Rev. Ewan Macdonald and their two sons.  The airplane symbolizes World War I experience which influenced Maud so deeply and which provided the inspiration for her novel, Rilla of Ingleside, published 1921.
 

Arnold Hodgkins was born in 1911 in Silverdale, Ontario.  Encouraged from a young age to draw and paint, Arnold continued to explore his talents.
 

He married in 1933 and joined the war effort in 1940 in the ambulance corps.  After serving, he enrolled in the Ontario College of Art.  A graduate in 1948, his shows and commissions in the 50′s & 60′s were very successful and included portraits of Lady Eaton and shows with the likes of David Milne, Duncan MacPherson and Franklin Arbuckle.  He developed Deerfoot Pioneer Art Settlement in Leaskdale and ran a summer art school here from the mid-60′s to the mid-70′s.  In the 60′s he expanded his search for beauty to the Madawaska Valley.  Deerfoot Gallery was officially opened in 1965 by A. J. Casson and attended by Frederick Varley.  His work was now greatly inspired by the Group of Seven.  He excelled in every medium…his paintings draw you in.

For more on Lucy Maude Montgomery, see:
https://lucymaudmontgomery.ca/resources/artifacts-and-collections/

Photo of framed piece in place in Montgomery's Leaskdale home by Carolyn Wilker:  https://storygal.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/dscf4902.jpg

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